Reykjavik was
the first place in
Iceland
to be intentionally settled. The first settler, Ingolfur Arnarson, tossed his
high-seat pillars overboard in 874 and built his farm where they washed ashore,
between the small
lake Tjornin
and the sea. He called this place ‘
Reykjavik’
or ‘
Smoky Bay’,
after the steam rising from the earth.
